A Blast Down Under
Jack Tate (Michael Shanks - Desperate Escape) is not having a good day, well having to leave work for a meeting with the divorce lawyer means more arguing with his soon to be ex wife. But that is nothing compared to one of his colleagues who is stationed on a boat as an unprecedented flash freeze kills them in seconds. As Jack learns, a solar eclipse has lead to an arctic blast of hyper chilled air, usually found in the upper atmosphere, to come crashing down to Earth andin doing so causing a 21st century ice age which starts in Australia but threatens to engulf the entire planet, causing death and destruction on a biblical level.
You worked it out, "Arctic Blast" is another of those "The Day After Tomorrow" inspired disaster movies where an unprecedented natural event threatens to plunge the entire planet into a 21st century ice age. But we are not talking big budget disaster on a Roland Emmerich scale of mass destruction but more something made more for the connoisseur of late night made for TV movies, those who shall we say have a fondness for that combination of daft and ridiculous, which might leave some audiences incensed for being factually incorrect.
To be honest there isn't a great deal to be said about "Arctic Blast", unless I was going to spend time pointing out its numerous flaws, as this simply runs to the stereotypical ice age disaster movie formula. As such we have are hero in Jack whose dedication to work has caused family disharmony but who of course risks his life to try and save them when things get crazy and the planet gets covered in ice. About the only thing which separates "Arctic Blast" from other ice age disaster movies is that this one is set in Australia, although I do wonder if this is more a case of some location setting scenes being filmed in Australia whilst many a scene was actually filmed in Canada, like so many of these movies are.
The thing is that whilst I can understand why some might find "Arctic Blast" a bit of a bad joke I am one of those movie lovers who enjoy this sort of disaster movie nonsense. Maybe it is because it is bordering on the bad that I find it amusing and light entertainment. Part of that comes down to the acting which whilst not poor is of a slightly tongue in cheek nature where you know the actors give a professional performance but know exactly what sort of movie they are in and what they are being paid to do.
What this all boils down to is that "Arctic Blast" is not going to be for everyone especially those expecting not just factual accuracy and realism but great action, acting and special effects. But for those who enjoy the borderline trash that late night disaster movies tend to be this should keep them amused.
